FAA Approves Boeing's Battery Fix for 787

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FAA Approves Boeing's Battery Fix for 787

Photo: Boeing

Photo: Boeing

The Federal Aviation Administration announced today that it has approved Boeing's "design for modifications to the 787 battery system." The mostly composite airliner from Boeing has been grounded since January after a pair of incidents involving the lithium ion batteries used on the airplane.

“Safety of the traveling public is our number one priority," Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said in a statement from the FAA. "These changes to the 787 battery will ensure the safety of the aircraft and its passengers."

Hints of an imminent approval began circulating Thursday after the plane maker was allowed to make a production flight test of a 787 destined for launch customer All Nippon Airways. The Japanese carrier experienced one of the battery failures back in January and with a fleet of 17 Dreamliners has had the most grounded airplanes for the past three months.

The FAA says it will issue instructions to operators of the 787 for changes that need to be made to the fleet in the United States, allowing the airplanes to return to service. Boeing will immediately be sending out it's elite mechanics known as the aircraft on ground teams. This afternoon in a conference call with reporters Boeing said 10 of their AOG teams consisting of more than 300 employees in total are already traveling around the world to work with airlines in implementing the retrofits. Parts for the retrofits are required to be with Boeing until the approval was granted by the FAA, but the company says it has staged these parts at "Boeing bonded storage" locations worldwide.

Boeing says the modifications will require five days to complete on each 787. Currently there are 50 Dreamliners in nine different countries, with 23 in Japan alone. It is up to the airlines to how to complete the modifications to each airplane, but Boeing says it is making it's AOG teams available to all of its customers to make the modifications to the airplanes which include a reinforced, stainless steel battery box and drilling a small hole in the fuselage to vent gasses from the box.

It is widely expected that other government aviation agencies around the world will follow the FAAs lead in allowing for the modifications.

Here in the United States the FAA will have teams of inspectors at the Dreamliners being modified who will monitor the modifications. The FAA noted the 787s will return to service only after the agency accepts the work done on the airplanes.

In addition to the grounded planes around the world, Boeing also has a backlog of 787s outside its factories in Washington and South Carolina.

UPDATED at 7:45 p.m. EDT to include information from Boeing about the teams of mechanics that will be assisting in the modifications.*